Assurance
by LittleRedOne
Summary: Tess was just looking for a way to show she was in this for him, not his stuff. Nate was just looking for a way to assure himself they'd last. Ness oneshot.


**A/N:** I've been working on this longer than you can possibly imagine. I hated the ending and have re-written it countless times before giving up and posting it like this. Hopefully it's not awful. Thanks Paige for reading it over! :)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

He was always one to show some kind of affection. She had thought it was a phase at first. Their relationship - if you could even call it that - was newly established and she thought that was the reason behind the constant touches, kisses and gifts. She was wrong. The months went on and nothing changed.

Seven months later - because yes, their "relationship" had made it that far - they shocked the press by the ring she now wore.

"_Tess Tyler and Nate Black engaged?" _all the headlines read.

She laughed at them all. She wore a ring alright, but she wasn't getting _married _to the boy. Silly press! They hadn't even had their "thing" for a full year yet! Heck, a year ago today they felt nothing but hate for one another. No, the ring she wore was just one of the many fabulous gifts he showered her with. And she wore it on that particular finger, surprisingly enough, _for_ him. He hadn't proposed. He hadn't been making a promise. He hadn't been begging for forgiveness. He had been looking for a way to make her smile, make her happy. He didn't realize how easily he could have done it, even without the ring.

She frowned at that thought. She had come a long way in the past seven months. Where she used to be snippy and rude constantly she now reserved the attitude only for when it was needed, and trust her, it _was_ needed. Never with Nate though. She was kind to him. She joked and smiled and laughed and, dare she think it, _loved_. Her eyes widened as she realized that that was exactly what she felt. She loved Nate. She didn't know if he loved her, but she loved him.

She stared down at the ring. He had bought her so many gifts. She'd gotten various jewelry, flowers, sweets, shopping sprees, basically anything she could want. She gave him things too, but never like he gave her. He was trying to make her happy with his gifts. She was only trying to show her feelings with hers, no matter how poorly it was done. And that must be it. She must be poor at showing her feelings still, why else would he feel he had to try so hard to make her happy? He didn't know how happy she really was just to be with him.

She ripped the ring from her finger in disgust, throwing it across the room. It suddenly wasn't that appealing anymore. She looked down at her outfit and realized the shirt was one Nate had bought her, the necklace too. She quickly discarded both items and chucked them too. Before long she was rushing up the stairs to her room, throwing anything he'd ever given her out the door and in a massive pile on the floor. She probably looked like a maniac, but she didn't care. She hated all these gifts. She didn't want them anymore. They needed to be out of her room, out of her life.

* * *

It was an hour later when Nate showed up. Tess had been expecting him so he let himself in like usual. The first thing to catch his attention was the bright blue shirt carelessly strewn across her pristine white carpets. She wasn't one to leave a mess behind her. His eyes scanned the rest of the room as he moved to pick up the shirt and found the shiny gold necklace he'd given her three months prior and the ring he'd given her mere days ago laying in a tangled mess a few yards away. He frowned as he gathered the three items and moved farther in to the house.

"Tess?" he called out.

She didn't answer.

"Tess! Are you here?"

Still no answer. Except this time he heard movement upstairs. He went to the stairs, climbing them two at a time in his haste to figure out what exactly was going on. When he reached the top his frown deepened. There was a mountain of things at the far end of the hall – outside of what he knew was Tess's room.

"Tess?" he called again as he cautiously neared her room.

She still didn't answer.

When he reached the door and finally took a look inside his eyes widened. Tess was sitting on her bed in a pair of pants and a bra. Her hair looked like it'd been roughly brushed back numerous times, her cheeks flushed from what he assumed was throwing half her room out the door. Her eyes frantically swept over the various tabloid magazines laid out around her, all opened to who knows what articles. His eyes swept the room and noticed the empty spaces of what he assumed were now pieces of the mountain beside him. He couldn't figure out what was going on exactly, but he knew it wasn't good.

"Tess?" he asked softly.

"Huh?" she looked up, finally noticing his presence. "Oh! Nate! What are you doing here?"

"I thought we were going to lunch," he answered as he watched her shove all the magazines off her bed, almost like she didn't want him to see them.

"Already? I thought that wasn't for an hour still."

"Tess, it's half past one. I'm actually late."

"Oh. Right."

He sighed and sat down beside her. "What's going on Tess? What happened?"

"Nothing happened. I was just catching up on some reading," she answered gesturing to the pile now occupying the floor.

"And the mountain in the hallway?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Redecorating?"

"Uh huh. And these?" he asked holding up the necklace and ring.

"Oh, I was wondering where those went. Thanks for finding them for me," she smiled, leaning in to peck his cheek.

"Tess," he said sternly. "Tell me what's wrong."

She sighed. "I just don't want any of that stuff anymore."

"None of it?"

"None of it," she shook her head.

"Not even the necklace, or the ring?" he asked in a quieter voice.

She shook her head no.

"I see," he said slowly.

He was afraid this would happen. She must have seen the stupid engagement rumor printed this morning. Now she didn't want anything to do with him anymore. Great. Here he is falling hopelessly in love with this girl and one stupid rumor is all it takes for her to change her mind. He'd been a good boyfriend hadn't he? He'd bought her gifts, showered her in attention, always put her first and even went out of his way to surprise her. He did everything he could to assure she was happy with him. And he'd thought he was making progress. She was nice now, to him at least. She got along with his sister and mother. She didn't talk trash about his friends. He thought she was really loosening up to him. Guess he was wrong. He knew he shouldn't have bought that stupid ring. He just saw it and it looked like something she'd love.

"Well," he said taking a deep breath, "if that's how you feel there's probably not much I can do about it."

He stood to leave, letting the jewelry slip from his grasp. He heard the soft thud behind him when they made contact with the floor and left the room.

He only made it to the bottom of the stairs before she was coming after him.

"Nate! Wait! Where are you going?"

"Home," he answered over his shoulder.

"What about lunch?"

Was she serious? She still wanted to go to lunch!

"Go get it yourself," he grumbled.

"Nate," she gasped. "I thought we had a date."

He stopped and turned to her.

"Not any more," he said coldly, turning and leaving a stunned Tess in his wake.

* * *

The sound of the slamming door broke Tess out of her shock. She ran forward and ripped the door open, trying to figure out what had just happened. Nate was just opening his car door when he looked up and saw her coming towards him.

"Please don't go yet," she said when she was near him.

"It's a little late, I'm already going."

"Then I'm coming too," she said stubbornly, opening the passenger's side door and climbing in before he could lock it.

"What do you want now Tess?" he sighed. "You got your point across just fine before."

"No. I didn't though. I got nothing across."

"No really, I think I got it. It's fine. You don't want to be with me anymore. It's not a big deal. It's not like this was a real relationship anyway. It was destined to fail from the beginning."

The words stung Tess.

"This _is_ a real relationship though! And it's _not_ failing!"

"You're right," he agreed, making her feel better before just crushing her again. "It can't fail if it's already over."

"It's not over Nate. Stop saying it's over."

"Oh please Tess, the message was pretty clear."

"Then you suck at reading messages!" she snapped, getting angry that he wouldn't listen to her. "I love you Nate. Did you get _that_ point in there? That's what I had to tell you."

"You love me?" he asked shocked. She nodded. "How the _hell_ do you think rejecting the things I've bought you is telling me you _love_ me?"

"I don't want the things you bought me!" she yelled. "I just want you! _You_ make me happy, not what you buy me with your money! I want none of that anymore!"

Tess was stung yet again when Nate started laughing. She just confessed her feelings and he has the nerve to laugh at her? She didn't have to take this. She opened the door to the car climbing out and making sure to slam it shut behind her. She stomped across the yard to the front door, ignoring his calls behind her. Once she entered the house she made sure to turn and slam that door in his face too for good measure, locking it to stop his entering.

"Let me in Tess," he said through the door.

"Go away!"

"I'm not going anywhere. I can make myself comfortable out here."

Despite her better judgement Tess moved to the window to see him sitting on the swinging bench on her porch. His mouth was twisted up in to a little smile. You'd think they weren't fighting or anything. He was probably still getting a kick out of her little announcement. He looked up to see her peeking through the window and winked at her. He _winked_ at her! That was too much for Tess. She was going out there.

"Do you find this _amusing_?" she glared at him as soon as the door was open.

"A little bit yes," he smiles.

"Well I'm glad you can find your humor at _my_ expense."

"You want to let me talk now? Or do you want to come up with other theories before you let me?"

"I'll take the second option," she says turning to go back inside. Before she could move far he was grasping at her wrist, gently tugging her on to the swing next to him.

"I wasn't laughing because you said you love me," he said softly.

"Uh huh, sure."

"I wasn't, I swear."

"Right. Well now that that's cleared up can I go inside?" she asked starting to stand again.

"Not so fast," he muttered pulling her back down. "Let's just talk this out."

"Fine," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I buy you these things for a reason you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"You don't though," he shook his head. "If you did know we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"This isn't a conversation, it's a fight."

"I'm not fighting, only you are."

"Whatever," she muttered.

"_As I was saying_, I buy you things to make you happy."

"I know that Nate. That's why I don't want them."

"You don't want to be happy?"

"I am happy."

"You look it," he snorted.

"Will you listen!"

"Sorry."

"I'm happy when I'm with you. Buying me all these stupid things insinuates you don't think _you_ make me happy. If you think the only way to make me happy is to buy me stuff, I don't want it."

"Oh."

He didn't say anything else for a long time and Tess was beginning to get antsy. She stole a peek over at him and he looked to be struggling with what to say.

"Just spit it out," she rolled her eyes. At this point she was ready for anything to happen.

He turned to look at her, his head tilted slightly to the side. "I love you too you know."

"What?" Of all the things she had been expecting that was not one of them.

"I do," he nodded. "That's why I buy you things. I want to assure you're happy so you'll stay with me and I can love you."

Now it was Tess's turn to laugh.

"I told you it was amusing," he chuckled along with her. "So will you please just wear the necklace and the ring? I don't care what you do with the other stuff, but those two are important. Please?"

"Of course I will," Tess laughed. "I just didn't- You love me? Ha. Who'd've thought?"

Nate smiled and leaned over to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

"So, now that that's cleared up what do you say to that lunch date? I'm starved."

"I say you put a shirt on and you've got a deal," he smirked.

Tess looked down quickly to realize she was indeed in just a bra, on her front porch, making out with her boyfriend.

* * *

**A/N: **So let me know what you thought? Anyone reading my other stories, those updates are coming! I get sidetracked with oneshots alot. Sorry. I'm working on them now!


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